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Baked Wheat Bao

My 2-year-old son likes baked char siu bao, but he's not so fond of the meat part. I thought I'd try to make some for him and add a little whole wheat flour so they'd have a tad more vitamins. And I used organic ingredients where I could.

Melt the butter in a glass measuring cup until liquid. Add milk and microwave some more until all the liquid temperature is about 110F. The warm water should also be about 110F (this is the best temperature for the yeast). Sprinkle the yeast into the water to soften. Whisk the yeast water and egg into the milk mixture.

Put the flours, salt, and sugar into a stand mixer (or you can knead this by hand, but I don't know how long it takes). Turn on the stand mixer with the dough hook attachment on a low speed setting. Pour the liquid mixture into the flour slowly with the mixer on. The dough should be somewhat tacky at the end. If it's too dry, the dough will be too dense. If it's too wet, slowly add 1 tbs extra flour at a time.

Let the mixer run to knead the dough for about 5 minutes. Cover with a wet towel and allow to rise for about an hour or until doubled.

Cut pieces of the dough off and make about 8-16 pieces depending on the size that you want. Press pieces flat and roll into balls tucking the ends underneath. Place buns on a cookie sheet covered with a piece of parchment paper about 1.5-2 inches apart.

Cover with plastic wrap (loosely) and allow buns to rise for another hour or so in a warm place.

Preheat oven to 350F. Brush the tops of the buns with the egg water wash.

So I wanted to try that new ombre cake frosting trend. I used whip cream here on an eggless chocolate cake I made for a potluck at work (for those egg-free individuals on my team). Everyone was sufficiently impressed. I was a little disappointed at the messiness of the blue/purple end, and I kinda ran out of cream, but it tasted good. Anyway...

I was looking all over for pasta bakes that use uncooked pasta. After some modifications due to missing ingredients (my ricotta went bad) this was the random recipe that got my husband to eat like 2.5 helpings and my 4-year-old son to eat a bowl after telling me he didn't want any. Not sure if that's a good thing, but it at least indicated that it tasted good. :)

Ingredients
8 oz uncooked pasta (I used gemelli because I like the shape)
15 oz Sonoma Gourmet Roasted Vegetable pasta sauce (you can use any pasta sauce you like - this is just what we had)
1 c milk
1/4 c water
1/3 c grated parmesan
1 lb sausage (optional)
3/4 c riced cauliflower (optional)
More grated parmesan and cheddar for the top
Fresh ground black pepper

I only threw in the sausage for flavor and the cauliflower so we could pretend we're eating vegetables.

Preheat oven to 375F. If you're using sausage and cauliflower, cook the sausage in a pan first and throw in the cauliflower at the end.